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Seriously, you guys don't get to have Uggla AND Larry Jones AND Kimbrel AND Bourn AND Heyward AND Prado in the damn game. If you don't like it, you can just go stab yourselves in the neck with a giant foam rubber tomahawk.

Honestly, I'd much rather see Harper on the team than any other NL backup.

Okay. I guess if that's your thing. I was under the impression - hoping against the facts of humanity, perhaps - that the Harper hype had played out a la the Weiters hype from a few years ago. It's not like he's Mike Stanton or Andrew McCutchen.

Okay. I guess if that's your thing. I was under the impression - hoping against the facts of humanity, perhaps - that the Harper hype had played out a la the Weiters hype from a few years ago. It's not like he's Mike Stanton or Andrew McCutchen.

He's putting up a .282/.354/.472 line with 8 homers, 4 triples, and 27BB in 277PA, good for a 123 OPS+, as a 19-year old kid. He is, in fact, on track to have the best season of any 19-year-old in baseball history with the possible exception of Mel Ott (and he might end up beating him). He's the odds-on favorite for NL Rookie of the Year. He steals home plate after being plunked, accidentally bashes himself in the face with his own bat in frustration, and creates instant sports-meme quotes when he calls out clown questions, bro. And you know this, because you've watched him beat your team's brains in several times over the past month.

I know you have this dumb schtick where you're supposed to hate everything Nationals and irrationally boost everything Braves, but dear god is it tiresome to have to deal with someone who's not even trying to relate to others here like a human being.

Look, I'm a Reds fan first, and a Mariners fan second. I don't have a dog in this fight. I voted for Harper in the final vote, and really do want to see him in the All-Star game. Baseball fans nationwide are excited by Harper. His story is one of the best, most exciting things that's happened to this sport in years.

Okay. I guess if that's your thing. I was under the impression - hoping against the facts of humanity, perhaps - that the Harper hype had played out a la the Weiters hype from a few years ago. It's not like he's Mike Stanton or Andrew McCutchen.

Harper is anywhere from 1 (Stanton) to 4 (Weiters) years younger than any of those 3 were when they debuted. Further, he's hit better thus far (.826 OPS) than any of them (McCutchen .797, Stanton .711, Weiters .723) in many more PA (277, vs. McCutchen 166, Stanton 116, Weiters 117) and is playing for a winning team (NL best .590, McCutchen .432 (last in NLC), Stanton .477 (4th in NLE), Weiters .455 (last in ALE)). So no, he's not Weiters, Stanton or McCutchen - he's younger, better and played more than any of the 3 as rookies at the ASG.

And in the larger sense, I don't see the problem - the guy's hitting awfully well (123 OPS+, 127 RC+) and has been a regular since his call-up.

Dear god it was GLORIOUS. Simply GLORIOUS. As you live there, you know how uncharacteristically perfect the weather was during the entire week, but talk about a lucky roll of the dice for us: between 66-72 degrees every day and delightfully sunny and breezy. No rain. The only clouds were picturesque ones.

Vancouver might have been even more beautiful, though. (We spent the first night in Seattle, drove to Vancouver for two nights, then spent the rest of the trip back in Seattle.) Stanley Park truly lives up to the hype -- especially in this weather -- as the most beautiful urban park in North America. The mountain & ocean scenery was breathtaking in both cities (and it was great fun driving north through WA and detouring through S.R. 11/Chuckanut Drive to get that staggering ocean cliffside view in Whatcom County), and the food was wonderful too. Spent tons of time at Pike Place in Seattle and Gastown in Vancouver...I dreamed last night of some of those meals, they were so good.

Meanwhile it was 104 degrees the whole time back home in DC, with no power until Friday. Yeah: we made the right decision.

(and it was great fun driving north through WA and detouring through S.R. 11/Chuckanut Drive to get that staggering ocean cliffside view in Whatcom County)

I used to be the recreation co-ordinator for a senior center in Seattle. In the fall I did a day trip for the seniors where I drove the center's mini-bus up I-5, getting off the freeway at Burlington and driving north to Bellingham along that route. If you think it's beautiful now, just wait until the leaves change color in the fall...

Absolutely -- you couldn't have timed your trip any more perfectly. On July 3, we were still in our 10-month-long grey season. Suddenly, we hit summer on July 4, and it's been sunny & in the 70's every day since. Honestly, it's tough to beat summers here. While the PNW has a deserved reputation for gloomy weather, it is definitely not true during the summer.

And I agree with you 100% on Vancouver. What a beautiful city. If home prices weren't so ridiculous there, I'd consider moving. I enjoyed all the historic stuff in Gastown, although I found it a bit dodgy at night.

Jason Heyward is just Bryce Harper with a couple of years of hype-die-down. So decrying the suggestion that the former might have been a better choice because "we wanna see the young soon-to-be-superstar" is mildly amusing.

Jason Heyward is just Bryce Harper with a couple of years of hype-die-down. So decrying the suggestion that the former might have been a better choice because "we wanna see the young soon-to-be-superstar" is mildly amusing.

Except, of course, for the whole "At 19, Heyward was still in the minors" thing.

I know you have this dumb schtick where you're supposed to hate everything Nationals and irrationally boost everything Braves, but dear god is it tiresome to have to deal with someone who's not even trying to relate to others here like a human being.

Just enjoy watching the Nats kick the teeth out of Atlanta's heads again and again and again, like they've been doing all season.

Because the All-Star Game isn't a popularity contest. I mean, we don't have fans vote for the starters, or the players vote for most of the back-ups (EDIT: Or a manager who's known to hold grudges pick the pitchers and rest of the bench). No, we pick our All-Stars purely on merit.

Which is why Roy Halladay (72 IP, ERA+ 100) was named to the team and Johnny Cueto (120 IP, ERA+ 175) wasn't.

You're either an idiot or obtuse, and I can't decide which. Bryce Harper is a star in a professional sport at an age the vast majority of players are still in A ball (notice the post above where he's younger than all but 3 of the players in the Futures Game). He's the only high school player anyone had ever heard of who wasn't the son of a former big leaguer, and he made good on the hype right out of the box.

Despite being in the league 2 years longer (and not being a teenager), Heyward just isn't any better than Harper. I know the truth hurts sometimes.

Heyward's been better than Harper this year, but don't let facts get in the way of your throat-gargling, bro.[/q]Heyward's been a better fielder this year, if you can believe half of a season of defensive metrics can tell you anything (especially the first half season of Harper's career). Offensively, they're the same player other than playing time:

wOBA: Harper .360, Heyward .362
wRC+: Harper 127, Heyward 129

Prefer the way BBRef calculates value?

oWAR: Harper 1.4 in 277 PA, Heyward 1.7 in 327 (remember, WAR is a counting stat so the difference is entirely playing time).

I'm actually now convinced you're being obtuse, because no one is this stupid.

Heyward's been a better fielder this year, if you can believe half of a season of defensive metrics can tell you anything (especially the first half season of Harper's career). Offensively, they're the same player other than playing time:

oWAR: Harper 1.4 in 277 PA, Heyward 1.7 in 327 (remember, WAR is a counting stat so the difference is entirely playing time).

Allen Craig 1.9 in 199 pa, if TLR wasn't such an anti-homer he would have picked him instead. Or even John Jay with his 1.3 in fewer plate appearances than Harper.

Maybe people need to realize that Harper is a bigger name than Heyward, and that does have something to do with him being in the game, who, outside of maybe Braves fans, wouldn't want Harper in the game?